PCNAs, Mergers, Toys, Sports & Arts 24th September 2016 Dear All We seem to do so much – and the world (or Councils) around us, keeps changing…
Parent Carer Needs Assessments (PCNA) The principle behind the PCNA stems from the Care Act – it is “the right to ordinary lives”. Earlier in the year (19th March to be precise) we included news of the PCNA’s in these bulletins. SFV had worked closely with AfC’s Strategic Head of Family Support to create the process and form for these. Here’s a reminder:
…what’s the point of a PCNA? Very simply, a PCNA looks at what parents & carers need to enable them to carry on caring. We know that our task as parents of children & young people with additional needs brings additional stresses outside ‘normal’ parenting (most parents are not as familiar with hospitals as we might be). The PCNA is your chance to consider your role as a carer and what help you may need to support you, to maintain your own health, as well as balancing your caring role with other aspects of your life, such as work and family. Your PCNA will help to clarify your needs and to identify sources of support which could help you. There is no doubt that the first version of the form is imperfect – however, we can review this after a few months. We are, however, quite clear that: no parent/carer should come away from the assessment empty handed whilst there is no duty to commission new services (only to assess), the data the PCNA will produce will (and must) inform future commissioning.
So… how’s it going? Please tell us your experiences of requesting a PCNA. How did it go? Did the process meet the intentions above? Perhaps it exceeded them? Perhaps not? Please reply to this e-mail and let us know. https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/pages/home/assessment-and-education-health-and-careplanning/parent-carer-needs-assessment
Children’s & Young People’s Plan – 2017-2020 Last week an SFV representative attended a workshop on this plan for 2017-2020; the plan informs commissioning (ie if it’s not in the plan, should it be commissioned?) At Kingston & Richmond Councils’ request, SFV will be running the consultations for families of children & young people with SEND. What resonated as we left the meeting was, that whilst no-one can argue with principles or values of the Plan (safety, wellbeing, achievement etc), our consultation will influence is how
the two Councils will use their limited funds for children and young people over the next few years. We will send you (and all parents/carers in the two boroughs) more details of the questionnaire and our face-to-face consultations asap – soon after half-term. Please take part. Your views matter and will influence the plan.
Phyz – pub night “Next Tuesday we have our next pub night - a chance to get together in informal surroundings and hopefully an opportunity for working parents (and dare we say Dads?) who may not be able to get to the day time meetings. We have booked a table in the bar for: Tuesday 27th September – 8pm Harts Boatyard, Portsmouth Road, Surbiton, KT6 4ES. If you are planning to come it would be useful if you could let us know. We have also booked in some more meetings at Me Too & Co on Friday mornings. Please put these in your diaries - we'll send more information nearer the time. Next meetings: Friday 7th October - 10:00 to 12:00 Friday 4th November - 10:00 to 12:00 Friday 2nd December - 10:00 to 12:00 Me Too & Co at The CrossWay Centre, East Twickenham, Richmond Road TW1 2PD. …to book a creche place please e-mail Info@metooandco.org.uk Penny, Stacey & Sylvie on behalf of Phyz” info@phyz.org.uk
Whizzkidz… free half-term skills club Phyz have managed to get Whizzkidz to set up a wheelchair skills club in Kingston!! Yay!!! “Phyz need as many kids as possible to come along - if we get a good cohort we can ask them to set up a monthly ambassador club - which is a real gap in terms of social life for able kids in wheelchairs. “ To book a place, please contact: Hannah Smyth on h.smyth@whizz-kidz.org.uk or info@phyz.org.uk or see the Local Offer link below You need to book by 30th September. “Parents can drop their kids off as Whizzkidz provide healthcare assistants. The club is FREE and consists of a bit of wheelchair training, lots of games, social activities etc. It’s very relaxed and fun - and often run (although not always) by adult wheelchair users.” Phyz
What’s new on the Local Offer A safe space to develop skills and independence, while also having a fun time and a great opportunity to meet other young wheelchair users. (thank you Phyz - with Local Offer link)
https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/events/21423-whizz-kidz-october-half-term-club-forwheelchair-users This is a link or teachers, but perhaps families would find it interesting – especially if a teacher hasn’t had a chance to catch up with their mail… https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/blog_articles/679-help-your-autistic-students-with-myworldfree-resources-from-nas Letter from ISCD https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/blog_articles/678-letter-from-head-of-service-integratedservice-for-children-with-disabilities Safeguarding… a poster for groups and activity providers to display https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/blog_articles/676-safeguarding-lead-posters-for-display-insettings-and-organisations Last chance to take part in this survey… re-organisation of Richmond Children’s Centres… deadline 30th September. (Kingston to follow) https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/blog_articles/609-richmond-children-s-centre-servicereorganisation-consultation Please take a look at the Local Offer’s events pages – listings are monthly, and are constantly updated. https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/events
SFV – meetings (cake etc) Our flyer on this term’s informal meetings is attached – and should land on all parents/carers doormats in the next week or so (whether or not you subscribe to this bulletin)
Merging Richmond & Wandsworth – joint adult services These are the most recent news items we can find on the two different .gov websites. The merge begins proper from October 1st this year (that’s next week!) Richmond http://www.richmond.gov.uk/wandsworth Wandsworth http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/news/article/12707/councils_announce_plans_to_create_sh ared_staffing_structure
…and Reading’s childrens’ services? Nick Whitfield, CEO for Achieving for Children (AfC), is in discussion with Reading council about their children’s services. Here is the link to the article on the AfC website: http://www.achievingforchildren.org.uk/News
Quiz night to fund sitting service Ruils are holding a quiz night next month in Teddington – full details on the attached flyer. 8th October 2016 – 7.30pm , Teddingon Contact Laetitia: laetitiagayle@ruils.co.uk
“Funds are being raised for our wonderful Sitting & Befriending Service provides invaluable support to children with complex needs and disabilities and their families. It gives parents a much needed break and helps to get children out and about. Last April, AfC stopped funding the service. It is such a lifeline to our families that we are determined to keep it going. It costs £30k a year to run the service. We had already raised £19k and have an £11k shortfall to make up during this financial year.”
Toys ToyLikeMe was established in April 2015 after journalist and creative consultant Rebecca Atkinson noticed the lack of positive representation in toys… “As someone who had grown up wearing hearing aids, I remembered first-hand how it felt to be a child who never saw themselves represented by the mainstream and what that can do to a child’s self-esteem” http://dev.toylikeme.org/about-us/our-story/
World ParaAthletics Championships in London 2017 “The world's best athletes are coming back to London. The race is on for tickets to the biggest sporting event of 2017 with the IAAF World Championships and World ParaAthletics Championships taking place at the former Olympic Stadium.” Discounted tickets available until 30th September… https://tickets.london2017athletics.com/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Para%20Video& utm_campaign=The%20Race%20Is%20On
Spectrum Youth Theatre A creative club for 11-17 year olds with high functioning autism… “Spectrum Youth Theatre (SYT) is a puppet youth theatre for young people with Aspergers or high functioning autism. We are now looking for participants to embark on an exciting new theatre project. This is a perfect club for artists, model builders, designers, problem solvers, puppeteers, performers and people with big imaginations or a quirky take on life.” https://littleangeltheatre.com/creativelearning/young-people/spectrum-youththeatre/?dm_i=2U8A,B79C,4GN600,134AP,1 As ever, if you have any queries at all, please ask and we'll always do our best to find an answer. With best wishes, Romany (for Richmond) and Caroline North (for Kingston) Phone: 07469 746 145 www.sendfamilyvoices.org If you wish to unsubscribe from this e-mail list, please reply to this e-mail with Unsubscribe in the subject line.